I've never owned smart glasses, but Samsung's Android XR glasses may change that

I will admit that I got pretty swept up by the VR and AR craze, especially in the early days. From the HTC Vive to later mixed-reality devices like the Meta Quest 3, I’ve had my share of these devices. I’ve even spent time with earlier headsets and wearable displays, but I’ve never once felt the need to invest in a pair of smart glasses. That might finally change, as Samsung’s long-anticipated Android XR glasses are reportedly on the way this November.

Samsung’s glasses come at a time when there are already a growing number of competitors on Meta’s platform, but none have piqued my interest enough to consider a purchase. Meta-based glasses have a fair share of capabilities, including taking photos and videos, sharing to the cloud, music playback, live translation, and even asking questions or identifying objects using Meta.

The problem is that most of these things feel pretty surface-level. You can ask questions, but actual integration with apps and services varies, and you certainly won’t get Google services baked in. I’ve also found that any friends or family who own Ray-Ban glasses or similar Meta-based glasses tend to have a similar story to tell. At first, they used Meta AI to ask questions about everything and really pushed all of the glasses’ features. Over time, though, this became more of an aside as the glasses became just a quick way to capture POV video and photos.

This is great and all, but as someone who wears glasses daily for vision, I don’t want to jump on this train until it is mature enough for the glasses to have the right mix of value, functionality, and comfort. It’s still uncertain if Samsung’s XR glasses will hit all the marks I’m looking for, but there are several reasons why Samsung’s effort has me interested.

What has me excited for Samsung’s XR glasses

At first glance, Samsung’s XR glasses don’t seem much different than what’s already out there. Once you delve beneath the surface, you’ll find that the bones might be similar, but the implementations are quite different. Starting with the AI intelligence underneath, Meta relies on Meta AI, a Llama-based platform that features reasonably solid integration around apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. That’s a nice start, but Gemini features much deeper integration of Google’s services, including Android and core Google apps.

Another big difference is in the AI’s conversational capabilities. Meta AI might be fine for casual, basic queries and social integration, but it is much weaker than Gemini for deep research, coding, and agentic capabilities. Essentially, you can do just about anything with Gemini on your glasses that you can on another platform (like your phone), such as controlling settings, asking the AI to perform agentic tasks, and even generating modified images based on what you see through your glasses’ camera.

Based on earlier tech demos at events like Google I/O, we also know that Gemini on Android XR goes beyond just identifying objects. For example, it should be easy enough to ask your glasses to take something like a physical notebook and quickly transcribe it into something digital, forwarding it to Docs or even Keep. To me, this is the real appeal of Samsung’s XR glasses, as I often forget … well, lots of things. I will already bring out my phone or use my Galaxy Watch to scribble notes or take a quick recording when someone is explaining something, or when I want to remember what I saw, but that can be pretty clunky. Since I’m always wearing my glasses, it basically means that with smart glasses I’d always be ready to capture any note or moment.

Speaking of smartwatches, we already knew Android XR devices could communicate with smartwatches in theory, and early rumors suggest this will be true for Samsung’s glasses. We don’t know how deep this integration will go, but it’s almost certainly deeper than what Meta offers, which is basically just stuff like audio controls. Based on early demos, it should be possible to start tasks like generating images from the glasses, with the watch acting as a preview display. It’s also very possible that a smartwatch could handle some of the navigation features meant for screen-based glasses like those from XREAL.

Beyond my excitement about Gemini’s more robust features and the benefits that might come with integrating Google services and hardware, I am also happy that Samsung seems focused on keeping its glasses as light as possible. Rumors currently suggest Samsung glasses are closer to 41g, which is lighter than any Meta glasses on the market right now. It’s unclear what model this weight is referring to, but even the lightest Meta glasses are around 48-50g right now, with some models as heavy as 70g. This might not sound like a massive difference, but with glasses, even a few grams can make a major impact.

Weight might not matter as much for those who only plan to use smart glasses for specific situations, but I pretty much wear my glasses 24/7. If I want to use my smart glasses as my main pair, it needs to be light enough for comfort’s sake; otherwise I’ll have to keep switching back to my “dumb” glasses to give my earlobes and nose a break.

What I’m less sold on or unsure of right now

I know some people aren’t into the idea of smart glasses without a display, but this doesn’t bother me personally. A display-less design cuts costs, allows the glasses to be lighter, and most of its downsides can be worked around by pairing it with something like a smartwatch. What I do care about is privacy, for both myself and those around me.

Not only can wearing glasses with cameras on them make others nervous, but you also can’t help but wonder how much Gemini hears and sees unintentionally. Even if my data is sitting in the cloud and completely unreachable by humans, there’s still something unsettling about wearing a camera-capable device made by a company known for selling data for advertising.

Support is another aspect that will matter to me. If these things are going to cost a fair deal, I want them to last long enough that I can change out the lens once or twice and keep them for at least a half decade. Right now, it’s not clear how set Android XR’s future really is or how long support will last.

At the end of the day, pricing is probably the factor that will help me decide if I’m ready for smart glasses. We already know that the display-packed XREAL glasses run on Android XR and cost nearly $1,300. It has a screen and way more RAM, but even so, it seems likely Samsung’s display-less take could still easily cost closer to a smartphone than a smartwatch.

If it turns out to be under $450, I will certainly think hard about getting one. If it’s well above that, I’ll likely wait until the market matures even further.